They sequenced the DNA of Judy Perkins’ tumor to find which mutations were unique to the cancer.

Credit: (CBS3)

A tiny percentage of immune cells programmed to recognize those mutations, were grown and injected back into the her bloodstream.

“You take a patient’s own cells, you attack their own cancer with their own cells and you attack a unique mutation that’s present in their cancer and none others,” explained Dr. Steven Rosenberg of the National Cancer Institute.

Perkins, 52, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003 but ten years later it came back.

Chemo and hormone therapy didn’t work but this one-time treatment with more personalized immunotherapy did work for Perkins.

“It was quite a relief to see that, you know, it wasn’t coming back. It was all gone,” she said.